Bird poop disables 25,000 traffic signals in Nagano

Police and motorists in Shiojiri and Matsumoto cities in Nagano Prefecture had to deal with nearly a half an hour of dead traffic lights on Aug 28. The cause of this menace was none other than mankind’s greatest airborne threat – bird droppings.

According to the Nagano branch of the Chubu Electric Power Company, a large number of birds had been defecating on an insulator in the Idegawa Substation in Matsumoto. The pile of crap got so huge that it dripped down a meter length of the insulator and caused a short triggering an automatic shutdown.

From 9:35 p.m., traffic police were on hand to manage intersections on major highways. Luckily no damage was reported from the signal blackout.

Chubu Electric has now set up bird-prevention wires and said, “There aren’t many incidents of power outages caused by bird poo as far as we know.” They would also appreciate people not telling them it’s “actually good luck.” That doesn’t make anyone feel better.

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Nothing gets monitored in Japan, trains fall off wheels because no one checks for metal fatigue, tunnels collapse because no one checks them, radioactive water overflows because no one checks them, rollercoasters kill because no one seems to check them.